This, of course, was life before the Internet and Wikipedia. Later on, I couldn’t find out much about Anne Rice either. On the paperback version of The Mummy, I was given the tiny nugget, “Anne Rice was born in New Orleans, where she now lives with her husband, the poet Stan Rice, and their son, Christopher.”

One time Stephen King stepped out from behind his typewriter, and was interviewed by Writer’s Digest. I remember reading, and re-reading, an article about how he described The Craft. I practically memorized his take on being a writer. He’s not much different today. He advises that all writers be voracious readers, and I tend to agree.

As an author, a screenwriter, and Hollywood tagline writer, I’m sometimes surprised how many times I’m asked the same questions. But, as a reader, I understand that yearning to find out. Readers want to know how writers create characters, and what inspired the story. (And there’s always a back-story to the story. That goes for movies, as well.) Readers want details on how the plot was constructed because it left them turning pages late into the night.

This isn’t a spoiler alert, but I was asked by a woman at my literary agency, Dupree/Miller, why a dog had to die in one of my books. And was the dog really dead? It wasn’t so much a question as a demand. She demanded to know!

I’m also asked about the writing process—do I map out the story, or write off-the-cuff? Do I use the same technique every time? What are the similarities and differences in writing a screenplay versus a novel? And what about those taglines? How do you come up with them? Personally, I wondered about Peter Straub’s Ghosts’ tagline: “What you can’t see can scare you to death.” It bugged me for years. And what’s a tagline doing on the cover of a book?

One of the great things about being a reader in this day and age is that you can find out about your favorite author online. Dig a little deeper and you’ll probably find your author interviewed on Youtube, a Vlog or Blog, or a radio podcast.

I gave a radio interview the other day. (One of many I’ve been doing lately.) Click HERE to listen to the interview on Culture Wars, a radio program out of New York/New Jersey.

I actually like talking shop with interviewers. Maybe it’s all those years spent in public relations. Among some of the things readers want to know wasn’t just the details of my work, and how I do my work, but they want to know about me. The way I wanted to know what kind of dog Piers Anthony had… if he, in fact, had a dog. Or if Anne Rice had ever met a vampire.

Okay, I don’t really want to know that.

Yes, I do.

Last night, I gave a very lengthy pod cast interview. The questions were thought-provoking, and that got me all tingly, so I drank a double espresso, turned on Skype, and babbled my way through a fun one-hour conversation about books and movies.

Later, after the coffee buzz wore off, I realized I get asked a similar question all the time. When I’m on the east coast, it’s about Hollywood. When I’m in L.A., they want to know about my novels. It suddenly occurred to me that Hollywood is in love with the Literary World. And the Literary World is enamored with Hollywood!

Alright, this may not be news to anyone, but there are things going on right now between the two that a lot of people might not know about. The publishing industry is going through significant changes—writers are now self-publishing at a clip faster than George Clooney is going through women and Kardashians are endorsing products. And Hollywood is looking for content because “Content is King.” That just means good stories delivered via various forms of media.
But now you don’t need to wait for a novel to hit the Best Sellers list before it becomes a movie. (Incidentally, readers aren’t that interested in Best Sellers—about 65% of readers, according to Publisher’s Weekly, are more interested in—here’s that word again—content.) Now, Hollywood is actively seeking out writers who have great manuscripts, taking the manuscript and delivering a movie and a book at the same time.

Yes, this is indeed a good love story.

Hollywood is fascinated by people who not only can craft a great tale, but make it readable on paper. You know what I mean—without being riddled with grammatical errors and typos. And The Literary World can’t get enough of sitting in the dark watching Robert Downey, Jr. beat up bad guys in a heavy red iron suit.

This is already happening. I watched it in real-time in L.A.—in less than 15 minutes, a 350 page manuscript was made into a movie and book deal before I finished my glass of wine.

So, here’s the big question for writers. While you’re writing your book, do you hear a soundtrack? You should.